Declan James falls at final hurdle after great run in New Zealand
By NATHAN CLARKE
Malaysian Nafiizwan Adnan, the number one seed, dashed unexpected finalist Declan James’ hopes of ending his season on a high in the final of the 2015 Fitzherbert Rowe Manawatu Lawyers NZ International Classic PSA Challenger 15 tournament.
James found himself in the title-decider after a series of impressive performances against number three seed Raphael Kandra and second seed Campbell Grayson.
But he couldn’t find enough in his locker to overcome the World No.33, ranked 34 places above him on the rankings, to win what would have been the biggest title of his career.
Adnan has been prolific through the tournament and duly lived up to his billing as the top seed, using his wealth of attacking weapons to cause James difficulties in all four corners of the court, weathering an early storm from the 22-year-old to take his ninth PSA World Tour title to date.
“Declan has improved a lot since I last played him so I knew it would be tough today,” said Adnan.
“I followed my game plan, played to my strengths and changed up the game quite a lot in the rallies. I wanted to get him moving around lots and it worked and I’m happy to win.”
2015 Fitzherbert Rowe Manawatu Lawyers NZ International Classic PSA Challenger 15 tournament:
Final:
[1] Nafiizwan Adnan (MAS) bt [7] Declan James (ENG) 3-1: 11-8, 6-11, 11-2, 11-7 (52m)
Picture courtesy of PSA